MOLECULAR ELECTRONICS: COMMERCIAL INSIGHTS, CHEMISTRY, DEVICES, ARCHITECTURE, AND PROGRAMMING

James M Tour, a synthetic organic chemist, received his Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Syracuse University, his PhD in synthetic organic and organometallic chemistry from Purdue University, and postdoctoral training in synthetic organic chemistry at the University of Wisconsin and Stanford University. He has over 175 research publications and 20 US patent to his name. After spending 11 years on the faculty of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of South Carolina, he joined the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology at Rice University in 1999, where he is presently Chao Professor of Chemistry, Professor of Computer Science, and Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science. Tour's scientific research areas include molecular electronics, chemical self-assembly, conjugated oligomers, electroactive polymers, combinatorial routes to precise oligomers, polymeric sensors, flame-retarding polymer additives, carbon nanotube modification and composite formation, synthesis of molecular motors and nanotrucks, use of the NanoKids concept for K-12 education in nanoscale science, and methods for retarding chemical terrorist attacks. Tour is a co-founder of Molecular Electronics Corp. He has served as a visiting scholar at Harvard University, on the Chemical Reviews Editorial Advisory Board, the National Defense Science Study Group, and the Governor's Mathematics and Science Advisory Board, in addition to numerous other professional committees and panels. He has won several national awards, including the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award in Polymer Chemistry and the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award in Polymer Chemistry. Tour's outside interests include enjoying his wife and their four children, and studying the ancient sayings and writings of selected wise individuals, specifically Moses through John. For more, see http://www.jmtour.com

• Commercialization of Molecular Electronics; Molecular Electronics; Chemical Synthesis; Molecular Self-Assembly, Device Construction, and Testing; Architectures in Molecular Electronics; Programming the Nanocell.